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Tommy Dreamer Discusses Where The Line of Going Too Far Is in Hardcore Wrestling

July 19, 2018 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

– Tommy Dreamer discussed his Hardcore Match with Eddie Edwards at Slammiversary in a new media call promoting the event. Highlights are below, per Wrestling Inc:

On hardcore matches: “People think about blood, or tables, or chairs but to me, hardcore is a work ethic.”

On what the line of going to far is in a hardcore match: “I would be a hypocrite to say, ‘oh you can go too far.’ Cause I was the guy who would walk into a building and go, ‘I’m either gonna get thrown off that or I’m gonna throw somebody off of that.’ But we’ve learned different things. Chair shots to the head should never happen in professional wrestling again. No one should be having hardcore matches unless the other person that you know has a blood test. You know what I love about wrestling in Louisiana? They have a blood test. If there’s going to be a commission, you should have a blood test. Because guys are bleeding.”

On light tubes and other extreme weapons of the past: “Light tubes are ridiculous. Here’s why: inside there is cancer carcinogens inside it. So when you breathe that in, you’re breathing in cancer. So that’s stupid. You know what? If you look at it from a horror film [perspective]. There are people who like scary movies, there are people who like super scary movies, and there are people who like gore movies which are just out there for blood, guts and all that stuff. It’s to each their own, but there have to be certain precautions because you have heard of — ‘oh, by the way, there’s something called hepatitis.’ Because you’ve heard of a wrestler who’s doing hardcore matches when he knew he had HIV and that should never have happened. So there you go.”

On promotions working together: “All of these companies are working together. If you don’t work together you will not survive in today’s climate. WWE leads the way, cool. They have their own vision. Impact Wrestling, they have their own vision. They have their own fans, they have their own different match style. So does House Of Hardcore. All of these people are working together for the betterment of professional wrestling so how can I not get behind these guys? Something that’s worse is the BS and the politics. I know that’s my company’s mantra, and I know because I’ve talked to them, Scott D’Amore and Don Callis. Don Callis works for New Japan Pro Wrestling. They are trying to get rid — and they’re doing a great job — to get rid of that negative funk that has been through Impact Wrestling and try to get from the BS of it. A lot of people wanna deal with the behind the scenes crap and the internet wants to jump on that. Well you know they’re putting on a really good product today. I know this because — they let Bobby Lashley out of his contract. Look at what Bobby Lashley’s doing in WWE. Great for Bobby Lashley and also great for Impact because it opened up a spot a spot for someone like a Pentagon to come in or debut in Impact Wrestling. It opened up a spot for Tessa Blanchard. She turned down a spot to go to WWE to work in Impact Wrestling. So stuff like that is what I love about wrestling. The BS and the politics is what I do not love. Because there is a bunch of men and women in WWE that are being wasted, they could make a huge difference in Impact Wrestling, in House Of Hardcore, and throughout the wrestling industry.”